Untangling the Quality of Governance from the Level of Income: Are Sub-Saharan African Countries Governed Differently?

Erich Gundlach () and Susanne Hartmann

European Journal of Development Research, 2007, vol. 19, issue 4, pages 503-528

Abstract: This paper considers the argument about whether Sub-Saharan African (SSA) countries are mainly poor because they are governed worse than other countries, as suggested by recent studies on the leading role of institutions. Our empirical results show that the supremacy of institutions does not hold: SSA countries appear to face specific development problems in addition to weak institutions. Given their geographic and economic constraints, we conclude that SSA countries are on average no worse governed than other comparable countries. Our finding supports the basic argument of the UN Millennium Project report (2005). Cet article analyse l'hypothèse selon laquelle les pays d'Afrique subsaharienne (ASS) seraient plus pauvres parce qu'ils sont plus mal gouvernés que d'autres comme le suggèrent des études récentes portant sur la suprématie des institutions. Nos résultats empiriques montrent que l'argument de la suprématie des institutions ne tient pas. Au-delà des problèmes liés à des institutions faibles, les pays d'ASS semblent rencontrer des problèmes de développement spécifiques. Etant donné leurs contraintes géographiques et économiques, nous concluons que les pays d'ASS, en moyenne, ne sont pas plus mal gouvernés que d'autres pays comparables. Nos résultats vont dans le même sens qu'un rapport récent des Nations Unies (UN Millennium Project 2005).

Date: 2007
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations View citations in EconPapers (2) Track citations by RSS feed

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.informaworld.com/openurl?genre=article& ... 40C6AD35DC6213A474B5 (text/html)
Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: http://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:taf:eurjdr:v:19:y:2007:i:4:p:503-528

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.tandf.co.uk/journals/subscription.asp

Access Statistics for this article

European Journal of Development Research is edited by Rajneesh Narula

More articles in European Journal of Development Research from Taylor and Francis Journals
Series data maintained by Michael McNulty ().